Mentorship Drive

If it weren't for a few pushy folks in his life—including the lumber dealer who relentlessly nagged him to join the local HBA and the city councilman who pestered him to run for mayor—David J. Pressly Jr. wouldn't be where he is today. “I am the beneficiary of many mentors in my life,” says the successful North Carolina land developer.

Pressly's experience with the value of mentorship is a big part of what he brings to the table as the incoming president of the 220,000-member NAHB. He plans to build industry momentum by positioning the organization as a mentorship program.

“I want to address the relevance of membership,” he says. “What does membership mean to grassroots home builders?”

Pressly thinks the answer to this question is difficult for builders to grasp as they wade through complex issues such as environmental regulations. “These things can be so convoluted,” he says. “But with clear communication, a builder can understand that advocacy keeps him in permits, so he can keep up with demand.”

NEW BLOOD: David Pressly Jr. takes the reins of the NAHB in challenging times. He will spend his time dealing with rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, threats against the mortgage interest deduction, and the housing affordability crisis. When he can break free, he plans to reposition the NAHB as an organization that mentors its members in a bid to attract grassroots builders.

It frustrates Pressly that builders don't take advantage of the NAHB's programs. “The huge irony is that it's so inexpensive to have access to the brightest minds in the industry. I pay $385 a year for my local, state, and national dues,” he says.

Mentorship and community are closely linked in Pressly's life. A third-generation native of Statesville, N.C., he served in the U.S. Army Combat Engineers from 1969 to 1972. When he returned from service, he got a job doing real estate appraisals and then bought and remodeled homes and apartments. It was that work that led him to Charles Feimster, the lumber dealer, who talked up the Iredell County HBA. “I kept putting him off, but Charles kept ‘asking for the order,' and so I finally wrote my check and went to the meeting,” Pressly says with a laugh.

Pressly was instantly impressed with the HBA, and it spurred him to grow his business. “When you live and work in small markets, you have to diversify to make a living,” he says. His company, Pressly Development Co., builds market-rate apartments, tax credit rental housing, and office and retail space.

“I consider myself a builder and a diversified land developer,” Pressly says. “I buy land and create a use for that land.” He owns and manages more than 1,000 apartments, and his 13-employee office is located in a storage park he built 10 years ago.

Pressly credits a good deal of his success to several mentors. One of them, Statesville councilman Doc Raymer, encouraged him to run for city council and later for mayor. Those experiences taught him about the value of housing: “Apparent to me was the social and economic impact homeownership brings to a neighborhood.”

Pressly's agenda for the NAHB reflects his life lessons learned. “My slogan is ‘Standing Together to House America.' It's a metaphor and a symbol of the solidarity it takes to carry our mission forward,” he says.

Pressly plans to unify forces around several issues. First, he wants to address workforce and affordable housing problems. “We have addressed impediments to affordability,” he notes. “We have a 70 percent homeownership rate, the highest ever. But it's only 48 percent for African-Americans and Hispanics.”

To combat the affordability crisis, Pressly vows to fight regulatory costs, an ongoing NAHB battle. He also plans to tout financing programs as a solution.

Pressly also wants to turn the public focus on the needs of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan—especially the disabled, such as Statesville local Dale Beatty: “He came back from Army service without his legs. Our local association is building a home for him and his wife and two children. I would like to encourage builders and local associations to undertake such projects across the country.”

In addition to his agenda, Pressly has his hands full addressing a host of challenges that were not part of the job description.

“A big challenge is addressing the devastation to the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina,” Pressly says. “The damage is unprecedented. ... We lost 400,000 homes.”

The NAHB has pledged $2 million in aid—$500,000 to the American Red Cross, $500,000 to the Salvation Army, and $1 million to the 9,000 members in the affected areas. “Our first priority is to get builders up and operational,” Pressly explains. “Then they can help their neighbors.”

Other issues include preserving tax incentives for housing, which came under attack recently when the President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform recommended replacing the mortgage interest deduction with a much more limited 15 percent tax credit and eliminating the deductions for state and local taxes and interest payments on second-home mortgages and home equity loans. “We are ready to go to the wall to fight off any effort to eliminate or limit the mortgage interest deduction,” he says.

“We also have a challenge with the secondary mortgage market,” Pressly adds. “It's a fabulous system and the envy of the world, but some would like to restrict that. We want the secondary market to be safe but don't want its effectiveness diminished.”

Wrapping up his checklist of concerns is the uncertain economy. “There is a diminution of demand for housing. We know what oil prices, more inflation, and an increase in building material costs will do. These issues will be serial and relentless,” Pressly warns.

Challenges aside, Pressly looks forward to a year of service. “I come from a long line of public servants,” he says. “I want to inspire people to become involved in the NAHB and mentor new leadership.

“We've done a number of things successfully, and I congratulate the people who preceded me who have identified and pursued worthy goals.”

Still, he says, the NAHB can always do better. “We need to relate what it means to be a member,” Pressly emphasizes. “It needs to be interpreted better so [potential members] can take advantage of our services. I can't put a number on how many people we should bring in, but we should never be satisfied until we reach them all.”